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TMI Blog2023 (3) TMI 952X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... for the Petitioner to change the option to Navi Mumbai. HELD THAT:- The scheme of 2019 which is brought into force by the Finance Act of 2019 is for settlement of legacy disputes and also gives opportunity to the tax payer to come forward to make payments and to resolve their pending disputes. It was also to help the Government to clear the amount locked in litigation to augment the revenue. In that context, the scheme of 2019 has to be construed. Section 125 of the Act, while it provides for declaration under the scheme, excludes categories of persons who are ineligible to make a declaration under the scheme. It is not the case of the Respondents, as conveyed to the Petitioner in the remark column, that Petitioner falls under in any o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n for SVLDRS-1 is set aside - Respondents will treat the application of the Petitioner for SVLDRS-1 as being properly instituted and decide the same on its own merit, as per law and as per the provisions of the scheme, within a period of eight weeks from today. - NITIN JAMDAR AND ABHAY AHUJA, JJ. For the Petitioner : Mr. Dharnendra Kumar Rana a/w. Mr. Shreyas Jain, Advocate. For the Respondents : Mr. Pradeep S. Jetly, Senior Advocate a/w. Mr. Ram Ochani, Advocate. ORAL ORDER : (PER NITIN JAMDAR, J.) Heard the learned Counsel for the parties. 2. The Petitioner has challenged the rejection of Petitioner s application / declaration under the Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Dispute Resolution) Scheme, 2019. 3. The Petition ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he Petitioner has filed the present Petition. 5. The learned Counsel for the Petitioner submitted that with effect from 29 September 2016, the Petitioner had duly changed its Centralized Service Tax Registration Certificate with an application filed under Form ST-2 and had changed the corporate address to Thane Corporate Office. The learned Counsel submitted that jurisdictional Commissionerate of the Petitioner was also shifted from Navi Mumbai Commissionerate to Range-I, Division-VI, Thane. It was, therefore, contended that when the Petitioner was filing declaration on the portal in SVLDRS-1, there was no option to change the Commissionerate as once the Petitioner had entered the registration number, it automatically showed the concer ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of 2019 has to be construed. Section 125 of the Act, while it provides for declaration under the scheme, excludes categories of persons who are ineligible to make a declaration under the scheme. It is not the case of the Respondents, as conveyed to the Petitioner in the remark column, that Petitioner falls under in any of the exclusions. 8. The form to be filled under Section 125 of the Act is specified in the SVLDR Scheme Rules 2019 and form of SVLDRS-1 is appended to the Rules. The first column contains the service tax registration number. Then the other details and there is Column 8 which states select a Commissionerate. Prima facie reading of Column 8 would indicate that a Commissionerate can be selected. If the Petitioner had selec ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... settlement of legacy disputes, as it would involve needless harassment for the tax payer. If it is the contention of the Respondent that since the Petitioner was earlier in jurisdiction of Navi Mumbai and the issue was a legacy matter, Navi Mumbai was the proper authority, then the scheme should have provided so when the Petitioner entered the registration number. 10. Therefore, from the pleadings in the Petition, which have not been controverted in the reply affidavit, what emerges to us is the Petitioner is a victim of the lacuna in the software governing the SVLDR scheme where the Petitioner could not have selected the option of Navi Mumbai Commissionerate which was earlier Commissionerate of the Petitioner. This being the position, w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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